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FLORENCE – Students, faculty and staff are taking on Eve Ensler’s award-winning play The Vagina Monologues at Francis Marion University to promote gender, domestic violence and sexual assault awareness and raise money for the Pee Dee Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault.

The university in conjunction with the Gender Awareness Committee, Gender Studies Program, and the Fine Arts Program will host the fifth annual V-Day/V-Week events during the week of Feb. 27-March 3. There will be two performances of The Vagina Monologues. The first will be on Thursday, March 1 at 7:30 p.m. in the Chapman Auditorium and the second will take place at the Black Box Theatre at FMU’s Performing Arts Center on Saturday, March 3 at 7:30 p.m.

A poignant and humorous tour of the ultimate forbidden zone, The Vagina Monologues is a celebration of female sexuality in all its complexity and mystery. In the stunning phenomenon that has swept the nation, Ensler gives real women's stories of intimacy, vulnerability and sexual self-discovery.

“Based on interviews with more than 200 women about their memories and experiences of sexuality, the play gives voice to women's deepest fantasies and fears,” said FMU English Professor Rebecca Flannagan, an organizer of the event. "It's hilarious, empowering, radical and just a really good time."

This year’s “V-Day” events for the week will feature student panels and a myriad of other activities and is part of the “V-Day” event celebrated during this time of year at colleges and universities worldwide.

On Monday, Feb. 27, there will be a performance and discussion of A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant, and A Prayer, sponsored by Gender Studies ($1 General Admission; Lowrimore Auditorium, 6:30 p.m.) A reception and the kick-off of the Clothesline Project will begin will follow this performance. The Clothesline Project will continue each day on the Founder’s Hall Lawn from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., until Friday, March 2.

This project is a vehicle for women affected by violence to express their emotions by decorating a shirt. They then hang the shirt on a clothesline to be viewed by others as testimony to the problem of violence against women.

On Thursday, March 1, a women’s health event, “Any One of Us” will be held in the Lee Nursing Building Lobby from 11 a.m. – 2p.m., followed by the SUPER WOMAN Art Exhibit in the lobby of Chapman Auditorium from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. Following The Vagina Monologues performance at 7:30 p.m., ($10 General Admission/$8 FMU Students; Chapman Auditorium) is a reception sponsored by the Pee Dee and a SUPER WOMAN fashion show.

The “Take Back the Night” march will begin at the fountain on the FMU campus, Friday, March 2 at 6 p.m. The Tree of Hope and The Wall of Stories, two other V-Week activities, are also part of the Take Back the Night movement this year and mark the starting and ending points of the walk.